An Emerald Necklace for Los Angeles

As one of the nation's largest metropolitan areas, the Los Angeles region should be leading the country in park and recreation opportunities, but across Los Angeles County, only 36 percent of children live within one-quarter mile of a park, compared to 85 percent in San Francisco. "That's not good news for those of us who care about clean air, healthy communities and a growing green economy," says William Allen, The Conservation Fund's Director of Strategic Conservation Planning.So the Fund, along with nonprofit partner Amigos de los Rios, has been working for more than a decade to help realize a green infrastructure vision for Los Angeles County. The new vision has its roots in a plan for an interconnected "emerald necklace" of Los Angeles parks, trails and green spaces first proposed in 1929 by the sons of urban park pioneer Frederick Law Olmsted, who believed that everyone had the right to common green space.

Our Role

In 2005, the Fund's Land Conservation Loan program provided financing to Amigos de los Rios to assist the group in developing a 17-mile loop of parks and greenways connecting 10 cities and nearly 500,000 residents along the Río Hondo and San Gabriel Rivers. Since then, numerous groups have been working to implement this vision, converting abandoned lots, empty street medians and other neglected spots into pockets of green.

In 2014, we brought our national expertise in green infrastructure planning to the table to help Amigos and its partners expand and update their 2005 vision to include all of Los Angeles County, from the San Gabriel Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. The goals outlined in The Emerald Necklace Forest to Ocean Expanded Vision plan for Los Angeles County include promoting active transportation such as walking and biking; designing and building communities that are resilient to the current and projected impacts of climate change, and fostering a strong green economy.

Why This Project Matters

Implementing the Forest to Ocean vision will yield significant long-term benefits to Los Angeles County and its residents. These include safer places for kids to play, cleaner air and water, improved public health, more habitat for wildlife, better resilience to climate change, better historic and cultural preservation and the jobs and investment that come with a robust green economy.

The Conservation Fund's Strategic Conservation Team of Will Allen, Ole Amundsen and Jazmin Varela (pictured here in Angeles National Forest) traveled to California to meet with local groups about the new Emerald Necklace plan.

Lashbrook ParkPhoto by Whitney Flanagan/The Conservation Fund.

Lashbrook Park is 1.8 acre site located on the Emerald Necklace along the east bank of the Rio Hondo Class A bike trail within Army Corps of Engineers jurisdiction.

The Gibson Mariposa Butterfly park began with a letter writing campaign by a group of Shirper Elementary School fifth-graders in 2003, urging city officials to convert a neglected space area in their neighborhood into a park.

Area residents and city officials helped our partner, Amigos de los Rios, determine the elements and themes incorporated in the park design featuring butterfly habitat and culturally relevant outdoor education areas and innovative play areas for children of all ages, including Beyonce Chavez, pictured here enjoying the day at the playground.

"We hope the Emerald Necklace Expanded Vision plan will instill a fierce sense of urgency—a call for real and lasting results to improve green infrastructure—across the entire county. The plan is a roadmap for uniting East and West, Mountains to Ocean, collaborating effectively across jurisdictions to put a human face to infrastructure and accelerate improvements for the benefit of children and public health. We need to promote best practices in sustainable city design and improve access to open spaces."

—Claire Robinson, President, Amigos de los Rios

Learn more

Connecting People With Parks In Los Angeles

We've partnered with nonprofit Amigos del los Rios to plan green infrastructure in under served communities in Los Angeles. Watch our video to learn about our efforts planning parks and natural areas where city residents can experience the outdoors.

Face Of This Place: Claire Robinson, Amigos De Los Rios

The Fund is working with the nonprofit Amigos de los Rios to combine and update the green infrastructure plan for the Los Angeles area. Watch Executive Director Claire Robinson talk about her work with the Fund to increase green space and improve communities in the city. Learn more about our efforts to help create a new Emerald Necklace For Los Angeles.

Los Angeles: The Emerald Necklace Plan

What's the future Los Angeles look like? We're helping make it green by providing financing and strategic conservation planning to the nonprofit Amigos de los Rios. We hope to provide strategy and planning to connect 10 cities in an “emerald necklace” of parks and trails from the San Gabriel Forest to the Pacific Ocean. Watch our video to learn more about our efforts.